"MEKO!" all she heard before she was trapped under the elf's neck.
Jotou pushed the giant bag down the slope, rolling it down, "Just in time."
Hotaru held her own back, pressing it and stretching, "Yup, almost broke my spine."
"LET ME GO!!!" the brunette flailed as the rainbow tears went into her hair and turned transparent.
"Oh!" Asobi moved back, a slight giggle, "Sorry."
Fumeko looked down to her clothes, rubbing off the soot and ash. A—"Smack!"—went over the back of her head, "With all the crap you gave me," Hotaru made her wince. She side-eyed the redhead, rubbing the back of her head.
Hotaru then embraced her, "I'm so glad you're safe. Why would you do something stupid like that?" Instead of protesting, Fumeko gave a sigh, falling prey to her hug.
Without a word she pulled away. "I was just, not feeling like myself…" Hotaru's lips parted, not evening questioning her further. "What? No surprise hug from you?" the brunette turned to Jotou.
Jotou stared at the inferno, but the gaze Fumeko was replied with… Nose twitching, eyes that rivalled the heat of the fire she was just in, "You're not getting one."
…And Fumeko was perfectly content with that, "Sorry…" Fumeko crossed her arms.
'No point being angry at her. I've been in her place before.' Jotou sighed, "Meko saved some of our stuff in her sack," needing a minute, she stared at the flame once more.
Those words made the other two rush to that bag, prompting Jotou to follow behind, away from the fire. Fumeko tugged on her sleeve, "I'm really sorry…"
"It's fine, seriously. Just don't do something like that again please…" The scowl melted, "And I meant it you know. Whatever you wanna unpack, I'll be listening."
Fumeko's smile could not be any more sincere, "And with the delicious food?" Jotou rolled her eyes.
"Yay! My outfits!"
"I only got five Sobi; none of your other hats or your shoes."
"Oh no… Jotou? Can we go save those!?"
"No."
"Aww…"
"Oh please, we thought we lost everything. This is more than nothing. And this," Hotaru smiled, picking up her adventuring gear, "Now this fills me with joy. Asobi, can you put a curtain up?"
Asobi spun her wand around, creating an illusory curtain up. "Opaque Asobi…"
"Oh, you want to change, sorry!"
"No peeking," she went behind it.
"So, that's it, right? We won!?" Asobi hopped towards Jotou.
"If you count losing our house and a lot of our stuff a win, sure. I have all my stuff though," Fumeko proclaimed, flaunting her hair—flaunting soot alongside it.
"There's no putting it out, is there? Even if the fire department weren't busy with the chaos, it's too late."
Fumeko gently held Jotou's hand, looking up to her, "It's about us isn't it? No matter what, we can always get another house, as long as we're together."
Jotou glanced down… 'Her voice can get that soft? Is she really trying to tell me home is where the heart is…' "I think I broke Meko."
"HEY!" she flailed her fists to the side of the blonde, "I try to be nice and this is what I get!?" Asobi held her back by the waist, only for Fumeko's legs begin flailing to kick Jotou as well.
The blonde's eyes could not falter away from the fire, "It's not over yet. Sure, we won for now and Trailon's retreating, but they're still retreating; question is, where?"
"They were all heading west so, probably in that direction," Hotaru walked back, twirling her ribbon-like sleeves around her arms.
"They must have some other base of operations. If so many of them just popped up from nowhere, they have to go back there too," Jotou tried to figure. "If we can hit them hard before they leave, it sends a better message."
"Maybe they all took ships? Is that what they meant by vessel!?" Asobi giddied, letting go of the brunette in her clutches.
"Yeah, I don't think so…"
Letting go of her tantrum, she placed a finger under her pouting lips. The dots, her board long gone in the fire, but her mind was all she needed.
Information being monopolized headed to one place the quickest, a delay in construction and yet the building looked complete and of course, Moren… "The guild," Fumeko replied.
"Their base must be at the Adventurers Guild's upper floor that's still under 'construction'."
"Clean up the soot on our faces and a little healing, we can go. But are you sure?" Hotaru queried.
Fumeko's gaze bounced to Jotou, then back to Hotaru, "A hundred percent," a half-cocked smirk.
_
Grabbing whatever they needed and leaving the saved sack of items, the four gunned it to the guild. The snow had become little flakes from where they started—becoming stronger along their travel.
Even so, the dark shadows upon the roofs stood no longer; people began peeking out their doors. A dash of wind with a tint of red, black, blonde and brown they were lucky to see.
"Watch out!" Fumeko warned to their left, having told all the information she had garnered from Moren, from the back of Jotou's bicycle.
The glows of yellow assassins were not in their way. No, they were in someone else's way on the street to the left. A gust of blue wind burst! A group of them on the roofs, flew to the streets alongside the shingles.
Wind shot like an arrow—the sound of a whistle, like a blade through the wind Jotou was familiar with. "Huh. Funny running into you here," bow held taut, Zach wiped the blood across his forehead.
The last of them in sight gone, the guild mere steps away. Okod stood straight, sheathing his blade as liquid metal fell like a puddle.
"Jotou has other friends!? Hi!!!" Asobi waved.
"Eh… I'd barely call them friends."
Fumeko blinked in front of the three, putting her arms out, "Hold on, where's Lexi?" she glowered.
"Well, we were killing off velatos left and right; then after your speech, Lexi booked it," Zach brought his bow down.
"We've been on her trail," Okod walked forward, wiping the sweat off his chin; unfazed by Fumeko's chihuahua-like antics.
"Lexi's in on it, you're telling me you had no idea?" Fumeko still had her arms up. What exactly were those noodle arms protecting anyway?
"No," Okod's gaze turned to the guild, "If your little speech is anything to go by Thundering Blade…" he went silent for a moment, "I can't exactly say I don't believe you."
"Easy Meko, I don't think they're lying," Jotou's bicycle fell to the side. Fumeko grumbled under her breath, walking back next to Jotou. The two approached.
"So, we go into the guild all together and BAM!?"
"So this is the beautiful elf?" Zach remarked.
"Thank you!"
Okod gave a look back to Zach… In his eyes the words 'Right now…?' were practically written.
"Uhm," Hotaru had not noticed her tail alone blowing away the snow from how fast it was wagging, "I'm Hotaru Kinoshita, Jotou's probably mentioned me, it's nice to meet you," her face was red.
In his usual flirtatious tone, "Hey, Zach, pleasure's all mine~"
Not caring for the companion behind him, Okod's resting bitch face made an effort to at least look reserved, "Nice to meet you Hotaru. I'm sure Jotou's given my regards when you were injured."
"What regards?" one ear folded as she looked back to Jotou. Okod's resting face returned to Jotou.
And Jotou's glazed over eyes they met, "Must've forgotten after you hit me in the head."
"Hey fangirl, can we focus on the mission now?" Hotaru's attention fell to Fumeko watching the guild.
"I'm not… fangirling! I'm just, greeting the people who I presume we're gonna go in there with!" she shrugged, "Am I right Jotou?"
"Whatever, I'm not a judge. If you two followed Lexi here, were on the right track. Which means, Moren might be in there too. We need a proper plan," Jotou assessed.
"We go in there! Shoot all our spells and WIN! Two people can't stop that!" Asobi waved butterflies into the air.
"Your mana's low, I'm not sure about Hotaru and I'm running on fumes and rejuvenates. Fumeko has one dagger and one spell and we're not even sure if there's only two of them. Going in like that is gonna get us killed."
"The elf's not wrong Jotou. Lexi ran in a panic," Okod unsheathed his sword, walking in the direction of the guild. Zach followed behind stretching the string of his bow.
"If your speech made them retreat and you pulled the plug on all their operations," Fumeko added.
"They may be in a panic and we can catch them by surprise, but we're still not sure what's in there," Jotou walked forward. 'I need to figure out a proper plan before they all just rush in.'
"I'm fine Jotou, I still have enough mana," Hotaru walked along.
"And we have each other!" Asobi giddied ahead.
"You can think of whatever plan you want, but the more time you take, the more time they have to prepare. We have the numbers and the strength. The Trailon soldiers are no problem to us at least," Okod's blade glimmered silver.
"Fine," Jotou unsheathed her sword, "Asobi, blind anything if you can."
"Aye! Aye!"
"That sword," Okod stared.
Jotou brought it to her front, "Master Tensuo gave it to me hours ago. I still have my thunder," the blade sparked.
"Now it makes sense, doesn't it? Lexi always had so much information, even Jotou training with your master; she told us, but we never really questioned it did we?" three arrows lined up on his bow.
"Then even you should have no trouble to take on Moren," Okod told.
"Thanks?" 'Was that a compliment or an insult…?'
"No trouble?" Fumeko cocked a brow.
"He's a grandmaster level swordsman, his affinity is fire, summoning. His spells really can't be used offensively much. Luck of the draw, some people's affinities are just weaker than others," Okod shrugged.
They were a step away from the door, snow piling on the streets and their heads. "Why'd you look at me?" the brunette glared daggers to Jotou.
"Nothing," Jotou averted her gaze.
"I think your affinity is great Fumeko!"
"STOP IT!"
"Well, that should've alarmed them," Okod was ready to bust down the door.
"Hang on," Hotaru readied her hands in front, "Rejuvenate!" splashing down a raining halo of blue atop of all of them, feeling goosebumps as they stirred up. "Aegis-Aura!" they all glimmered blue along with it.
Jotou readied her blade, "Let's go then."
Okod curved through the lock like butter, "BASH!" before kicking the door in. Snow fluttered into the room as Moren and Lexi were caught arguing at the front desk; as well as many, many other faces…